


What beauty, what grace

by Mickibooo



Category: Mortal Instruments Series - Cassandra Clare, Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/F, Fluff, Humor, M/M, beauty pageant
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-30
Updated: 2016-12-20
Packaged: 2018-07-11 03:11:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,930
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7025122
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mickibooo/pseuds/Mickibooo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Due to losing a bet, Alec and Simon have to enter their school's all male beauty pageant.<br/>Isabelle and Clary take the jobs as their personal stylists.<br/>To win, they need to impress Magnus Bane and his friends, who are the jury and also the most popular group of friends their school has ever seen.<br/>How far can they make it?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Alec rolled his eyes as Jace waved the pieces of paper into his face. He looked over to Simon who was watching him apologetically, at least having the decency to look slightly ashamed for even agreeing to the bet on both of their behalves. Especially when Alec wasn't even around to stop him.  
The archer sighed as he held his hand out to the small bundle in his brother's hand. While counting, he let out a pained groan, nodding towards Simon.  
“Sorry... I didn't think he could-” Alec shook his head “This is Jace we're talking about. If he wanted to, he could get the numbers of more than ten people within that time.” Alec cut him off, knowing that many were keen on spending time with Jace Wayland, Captain of the Football team.   
Jace smirked slightly, pointing out the dreaded form, which was part of the bet.  
“I can't believe that I have to do this...” Alec mumbled under his breath, taking the sheets from his brother and handing one over to Simon.  
Before he could start reading it out though, he was engulfed into his sister's arms. “You're doing this? You're actually doing this!” she called out, a wide grin on her lips, “My brother, part of something fashion related, I thought I'd never see the day!”   
Alec rolled his eyes “Aren't you supposed to be on my side in these kinds of things?” he asked, frowning.   
“Oh, Alec, I am. I'm going to be your personal stylist.”  
Alec hadn't thought that this day could become even worse though he obviously was wrong.  
“You're my what?”  
“Your personal stylist, Alec. Don't act like you don't need one. You know, if you weren't wearing... that... you'd probably outrun Jace for hottest male on campus within a few seconds.”  
“Hey, watch what you're saying, Izzy!” Jace intervened with a small chuckle, watching in amusement as Alec buried his head in his hands. “Remind me, why do I spend time with all of you?” he asked, annoyed.  
“Oh come on, Alec. Don't be such a buzzkill.” Isabelle grinned at him, throwing back her dark locks, “I mean you'll be able to meet new people and I've heard that this years judges are going to be Magnus and his friends.”   
“Magnus Bane?” Jace asked, a laugh falling from his lips, while Alec watched in confusion. He had heard of the man before though never actually saw him. He did know though that his sister would spend time with him every now and then, apparently discussing cosmetics.   
Whenever she came back from those meetings, she'd always have glitter all over her clothes, making Alec wonder what they've actually been up to.  
He had asked her once, trying to be as subtle as possible, which wasn't much in his case but the only answer he got was: “You can't go near Magnus Bane without becoming his canvas of glitter.”  
Alec thought it sounded simultaneously as aesthetic and at the same time as stupid as any sentence ever could. He hadn't asked a second time either.  
Alec shrugged “So? What's so special about him then?” he asked, tilting his head slightly, voice laced with annoyance.  
“Magnus Bane basically is the queen of this whole school when it comes to fashion.” Simon called out, looking at Alec as though he was an idiot for not knowing, “He and his friends are insanely popular.”  
The oldest Lightwood only scrunched up his eyebrows. “I thought you two were the insanely popular ones.” he said, looking at his siblings.  
Jace smirked “We totally are, man but Magnus and his group.. Well, everyone calls them Immortal Friends because they basically are legends here.” before he could elaborate on that, Simon interrupted, ready to give them every bit of information he had on them, which, judging from his expression, was a lot.  
“Magnus Bane, lets start with him. He wears makeup that puts Izzy to shame at times. I've heard that he's really flirtatious too, gives the best parties and ends up surrounded by tons of people, all ready to give him a go.” he chuckled, “He doesn't really take people to bed though, not after his ex or at least that's what people say.”  
Alec nodded, hoping that he would shut up soon. It wasn't even that he didn't like Simon, it was more that Simon talked far too much and usually gave Alec a headache.  
“Then there's Catarina Loss. She is apparently really nice though also absolutely fierce. The “hurt my friends and I can shred you to pieces” kind of fierce though she mostly uses that as threat. I don't think she could actually hurt anyone.” he shrugged.  
“Oh, couldn't I?” a voice filled with amusement sounded from behind them.  
Alec turned to look at her, immediately faced by a woman with dark skin and mysterious eyes.   
“I wouldn't be too sure on her not hurting anyone.” next to her stood a rather tall man who didn't really look as though he wanted to be there. He wore clothes which could have been from another age though anyone would have to admit that he actually made them look good. His hair was dyed white and he managed to made look as though it was his natural hair colour which was quite impressive.  
“Oh, come on Ragnor, don't go around scaring people.” Catarina said, winking at the small group of friends, “I see you're going to join the beauty pageant? All of you?” she asked, focusing on Simon who of course immediately took the chance to talk.  
“What? No, not all of us. I mean, not that that would be bad, I mean-”  
“What he is trying to say is, that he's going to enter and so will I. We're the only ones who will.” Alec interrupted his friend, looking at the two of them with an indifferent expression.  
Ragnor sighed quietly, nodding. “If everyone is going to be as noisy as curly head over there, Raphael surely will have a fit as host.”   
Catarina laughed, nodding. “Well, he couldn't exactly be jury. His clothes barely see any colour at all and he'd probably make the contestants cry.” she said with a sheepish grin before looking at the others who felt slightly out of place.  
“We'll see you two soon then.” she said and waved slightly before taking Ragnor's wrist and dragging him away.  
Jace watched after them, shaking his head “Well, wasn't that weird..” he mumbled, “Whatever, I gotta go to practice now, see ya.” he said and left almost instantly.  
“Don't you dare continue with the trivia.” Alec said to Simon without looking up from the leaflet which he was studying, “I don't want anyone else to miraculously appear and think that we stalk them.”  
Simon pouted, though understood. “okay, okay..” he mumbled and sighed, “I'll just go search for Clary. I'll ask her to be my stylist since you already have Izzy.”  
He walked away, leaving Alec and his sister in the empty corridor.  
“This is a disaster..” Alec muttered to himself, to which Isabelle laughed, “Don't worry about it, big brother. We'll turn you into the hottest guy who ever went here. Maybe then you'll finally get a boyfriend.”   
The older Lightwood let out a pained groan. “Exactly what I meant; this is a disaster.” he repeated as his sister wrapped her arm around him.  
“Lets see if you have anything useful in your closet, that wasn't a present from me.” she walked to the room which Jace and Alec shared, making Alec sit down while she made three piles.  
In the end, only four shirts made it to the “Accepted as hot” pile. The rest either went to the “Alright, if you must.” - pile or the “Please throw that away, for the love of human kind.” - pile.  
Alec rolled his eyes as he watched her, shaking his head. “Those are completely alright, what is your problem?” he asked, pointing to the last pile which contained most of his clothes.  
“Alec, nobody will think that you're really hot in those. They have holes, they are far too big. You need different stuff.” his sister answered immediately, of course having seen that question coming.  
He shook his head, letting himself fall back onto the bed.  
“Can't I just kill Simon or something? Would be a lot more fun..” he mumbled under his breath.   
Isabelle heard him and shook her head with a small laugh, “No chance, people like him too much and you'd still have to do this.” she answered.

 

In Simon's room a similar situation was taking place between Simon and Clary. The latter was sorting out her best friend's clothes which mostly were shirts from tv shows, movies or comic books, which meant that they weren't exactly good for an occasion that judged people on what they were wearing.  
“We still need to read the leaflet.” Simon exclaimed, pulling Clary onto the bed.  
It contained the rules for entering, as well as the general information they needed.  
“So it's actually an all male thing?” Clary asked surprised and chuckled softly. “I suppose that means less competition.   
Simon laughed quietly “You make it sound as though we're actually trying something here.” he said and raised an eyebrow at her expression “Wait, what? Clary, no!” he shook his head, “We are so not trying to win this. Are you kidding me? I've got no chance.”  
Clary shrugged “Go big or go home? I mean, come on, when Izzy met us, she called you nerd-hot, you've got potential!”   
“Clary, she also called you a goddess. I can't win this,” he replied, “also have you seen Alec when he's training? When you actually see his arms for once? Honestly, I can't.”  
The redhead laughed quietly. “Simon, your pan is showing.” she said with a wink, “Just... Lets try to get as far as possible then?” she asked, smiling when her best friend agreed.  
She looked back at the paper. “Okay, so your gender is male, your age is eighteen or above.. Seems like that's all you need to enter the pageant.”  
Simon laughed softly, “Well that was easy, anyways, it says here that there will be four categories. Casual Wear, Formal Wear, Swim Wear and as last category, the jury chooses a theme personalized for each candidate to fulfill. The whole thing lasts for two days, there will be questionings on personal stuff. Apparently the questions can be submitted by anyone, over the internet.”  
Clary grinned “That means lots of sexual questions probably. See, at least in that department you're definitely better than Alec. He always turns into a stuttering mess when it comes to this stuff at least when attractive men are around. Magnus and his friends are more than attractive.”   
Simon chuckles, then shook his head. “Yeah, but I start rambling as soon as attractive people are around and honestly, there are far too many attractive people in this school.”  
When his best friend couldn't exactly argue with that, she shrugged, “what else does it say?” she asked him.   
“Well, basically just that you need to write down your name and class onto the list which hangs next to the pile of these leaflets. Jace already did that for us.” he sighed though couldn't help but actually be excited.  
“So, now we've got the whole weekend to prepare, right? We're definitely going shopping right after breakfast tomorrow.” Clary grinned, obviously hyped because of this.  
Simon all of a sudden almost regretted having pulled her into this though well, it was inevitable. She never would have let him do this on his own, especially since she actually knew what his closet was like.

In the end, both, Simon and Alec, ended up alone again, having signed up for a long weekend, full of buying new clothes and actually learning how to be confident and presentable, as well as two days of what could be called fashion week in their school. What a nice way to start the year.


	2. Round One - It has begun

Alec was regretting each and every decision which had led up to this moment.

It weren't many since Simon had been the one to make all of the bad decisions, so he quickly went back to cursing him into oblivion just as he had done ever since he found out about the bet.

Currently, Alec was standing behind the giant stage that their school had sponsored for the pageant.

He was dreading to go out there and to face the jury, his heart racing even though he wouldn't admit how difficult this was to him.

He didn't like to be judged by people. Alex usually judged others and he liked it that way.

Isabelle grinned as she made her way over to him with a pair of black jeans, which Alec knew would be far too tight for his own liking.

"Come on, put them on. You'll wear the tank top with it, you know the tight one that you use whenever your actual gear for archery is being taken care of." 

Nodding, Alec took the jeans, knowing that resistance wouldn't be able to get him out of this right now so he did the smart thing and complied.

While undressing, he heard his sister talking to Clary outside of the dressing room.

"Came to see just how hot my brother can be?" Isabelle asked the feisty red-head who laughed, shaking her head "Definitely not. I mean, we all know that Alec is a looker but Simon looks amazing right now." she shrugged.

Isabelle merely laughed "Oh yeah? Well, let's see about that." she hummed, her voice light and teasing.

Alec sighed as he stepped outside "Okay, I know that you're taking this seriously but can't we just get this over with?" he asked, missing the way Clary watched him in awe.

"Shit, Izzy, you were right. He does look better than Jace like this! How has nobody noticed that before?" she asked confused.

Alec rolled his eyes "I really don't want to hear any of this. Izzy, can we just finish me up so I can go on stage to be done with this?" 

Isabelle nodded, smirking at Clary as she led her brother towards the make up table. "Before you say anything, I'm only putting on some powder, don't worry. I know how you feel about putting stuff on your face." she winked at him, causing him to shake his head with a small, fond smile. Of course he knew that his sister was aware of where the line started and that she shouldn't cross it.

Ten minutes passed before Alec's face was ready to be shown to the public, his hair falling perfectly in a "I-just-rolled-out-of-bed" way. He looked amazing, even he himself had to admit that. 

"Thanks, Izzy." He told her, while she hugged him carefully, his arms wrapping around her.

"All contestants need to be ready within five more minutes." a smooth voice sounded through the room, interrupting all ongoing conversation.

"My name is Raphael, I'm the host of this ridiculous show. You better be finished when I come back, because I'll get the order in which you'll be send out there on time so be prepared for anything."

While Alec simply nodded, already turning back to Izzy for a last talk about his instructions on the runway, Simon was still busy staring at the host.

Clary rolled her eyes, stifling a giggle "You do know that you're being creepy, right?" She asked her best friend teasingly, who poked her in the side, face heating up with embarrassment.

"That was Raphael Santiago, right? The Mexican exchange student that is long time friends with Magnus?" he asked her, glad when she confirmed that theory. "Yeah, he's in my Algebra and Spanish class. He's really grim looking all the time. I'm glad that he's not in the jury." 

Simon nodded absent mindedly, knowing that with this literal god on the other side of the runway, he never would have been able to say one word without making a fool out of himself.

He snapped out of his thoughts when he saw Raphael walking towards them and was already close to panicking, though he thankfully realised that he was only coming closer since all the contestants had gathered closer to the middle of the room where they were both standing. 

"First one up is Raj." the handsome host said, waiting for the man to show himself. After he did, he continued with the order "Raj is followed up by Meliorn and Simon, Alec comes after them both, Stan goes last during this round." 

He examined each of the contestants, knowing that the jury would like quite a few of them. 

He led Raj to the curtain that hung in front of the stage, ordering him to stay until his name was called out.

Raphael then proceeded to make his way on top of the stage.

"Ladies, Gentlemen and whoever else decided to be here today. Welcome to our annual beauty paegant. This year, the principal decided to do something different: This will be our first beauty paegant solely for those who identify as men." he explained even though they all already knew what was going on.

"This year, our jury consists of three people who are well known to this school though I'll introduce them anyway.

First we have Caterina Loss, a woman with nerves of steel and the ability to make great decisions even under a lot of pressure. Next up, there's Magnus Bane, a cat holder who's so obsessed with his kitten that the poor things gets a party dedicated to them every half a year." Magnus chuckled quietly at that description of himself, listening to Raphael as he continued, "Anyway, he's also basically a huge ball of glitter and stylish clothes which is why he's sitting right where he is. The last man I'm introducing as jury is Ragnor Fell, a grumpy individual with an eye for clothing which could be presented in museums. He makes it look good though so nobody seems to mind if the girls and boys throwing themselves onto him are anything to go by." he winked at the audience before turning towards the curtain.

"Now enough of this nonsense, let's start the show. Our first category will be casual wear. The contestant that will be the first to enter this stage is Raj. We'll only look at the outfits in this round so the candidates will be giving us a first impression before we'll move on to the first round of questions."

He smiled sneakily "Now, please welcome our first contestant, Raj." 

Raj made his way out of the back room in dark blue dress pants and a white button up. He looked quite formal though the was he had opened the first two buttons on his shirt made it look more casual. He gained a mediocre applause, the audience still unsure what to properly expect which probably wasn't to his advantage though the jury was informed of that so they would take it into accounting. 

Raj was followed up by Meliorn who gained an uproar within the audience, his long black hair flowing behind him as he walked the runway gracefully. His eyes were lined with dark green khol, perfectly fitting the flower which was placed into his flowing hair. He wore dark, patterned jeans which seemed like a second skin to him, showing off his muscles quite well. 

His shirt though was flowing, opened half way and in a way, also seemed more dressed up though Meliorn simply enjoyed this look so it wasn't anything new.

The second that Meliorn left, Simon was already panicking, the knowledge that he would have to go out there and show himself to the world hitting him like a cannon ball.

He was glad that Clary and Izzy both were trying to calm him down though there wasn't enough time to do so.

It only seemed like seconds when the curtains opened and Simon stepped aside to let the other contestant through.

He slowly stepped onto the stage, his body frozen. Simon knew that he looked decent. Even Alec had begrudgingly admitted that he didn't look like a complete mess, with his hair a bit more up than usually and his clothes without references to any kind of media. 

He wore a simple dark blue muscle shirt as well as dark jeans, pairing everything off with cool boots. 

The amazing outfit didn't stop him from dying internally though, looking around in fear, until dark, piercing eyes bored into his own.

Raphael Santiago was watching him, was motioning for him to walk towards the jury and while Simon had no idea how if worked, his legs started to move once more. His eyes stayed on Raphael's for as long as they possibly could while he made his way towards the three people on the end of the runway.

He gave them a small twirl before going back inside, his lung heaving in his chest, despite not having done any actual exercise.

Clary immediately pulled him into an embrace, to which Simon clung.

Raphael had helped him through his and while he obviously didn't make his anxiety disappear, he had made it more bearable in that exact moment.

Simon decided that he would thank him after the first two rounds were over, closing his eyes as he let himself calm down for a second.

Alec had already stepped out, onto the stage. The action was accompanied by loud whispers and hushed questions.

Nobody had known that Alec Lightwood, the stoic, boring brother of the school's party siblings, was actually built like a sculpture made by the gods.

As Raphael already had imagined, Magnus seemed rather smitten with the oldest Lightwood, his gaze running over Alec repeatedly.

"Who are you?" he mumbled to himself, leaning forward to take in the view which he was presented with.

Alec quickly left the stage to make room for Stan, the last of them to show himself off to half their school.

Stan wasn't exactly well known to most people though he was a friend of Simon who always told them how nice he was.

He was wearing all black, a tight shirt with some lose jeans, a thin necklace dangling from his neck. 

After all contestants had walked the runway for the first time, Raphael brought them outside for another time, this time all of them together so that the jury would have a side to side comparison.

"Now, that we've got all our victims out and presented to you, we'll start round two, which will be the first round in which the audience as well as the jury can ask questions to our contestants."

Raphael started to explain, "After that round, sadly one of our contestants will be voted out by the jury." he grinned sheepishly at the participants.

"Now, let's see, who shall we start with?" Raphael then proceeded to ask, before shaking his head. "We'll go in the same order as before." he then quickly decided, already feeling annoyed by how nice and friendly he was supposed to be. 

He'll definitely have fun torturing the contestants with the most embarrassing questions though so there was at least a little something to look forward to. 

He couldn't wait. 

\---------------------------------------------------------

Hey there guys, sorry that this took so long. I hope you enjoyed this short chapter~!

The really interesting things will happen in the nexf chapter obviously but you can still submit questions for any of the participants if you want to!

Hope to see you soon!

**Author's Note:**

> We hoped that you enjoyed the beginning of this AU and that you'll keep enjoying it in the future.  
> Everyone is welcome to send in questions for the contestants to answer during the rounds that focus on that.  
> The participants will be Alec, Simon, Meliorn, Raj and Stan.  
> Have a nice day everyone and hopefully see you soon!


End file.
